tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post2274785034774617757..comments2023-10-04T09:50:08.070-05:00Comments on Logismoi: St Sebastian of Optina on Tolstoy's Last Days, Part 1Aaron Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-68192346947592238542010-04-21T12:54:10.361-05:002010-04-21T12:54:10.361-05:00By the by, that book I referenced (I'm in the ...By the by, that book I referenced (I'm in the process of reading it,) 'Twelve Types' contains other bits of Chesterton's opinions on Morris in it. It takes a bit of excavation, but it is a happy sort of mining if you like 'ol Gilbert's prose.Ephrem Antony Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00032465992619034619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-89220575705051111372010-04-20T21:25:45.648-05:002010-04-20T21:25:45.648-05:00River> Great! I can't wait to check it out....River> Great! I can't wait to check it out. I actually asked a presenter on GKC at the conference last week if he knew of any connections between Chesterton's & Morris's views or writings. How very fortuitous!<br /><br />Owen> Thanks. No, I had not read either the book or the review, but it sounds great! It will be something to keep in mind as we read <i>War & Peace</i>.Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-54502165479348112792010-04-20T20:36:32.808-05:002010-04-20T20:36:32.808-05:00Aaron,
Great post.
Did you happen to see this re...Aaron,<br /><br />Great post.<br /><br />Did you happen to see this review:<br /><br />http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Reviews-Essays/Russia-Against-Napoleon/ba-p/2359<br /><br />of this book:<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670021571/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER<br /><br />It seems that the incompetence Tolstoy paints of the Russian Army officers was not entirely accurate.Ochlophobist https://www.blogger.com/profile/13751003558600087713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-57708029760399178412010-04-20T13:28:17.713-05:002010-04-20T13:28:17.713-05:00A dovetail here to a previos post, Aaron:
http://...A dovetail here to a previos post, Aaron:<br /><br />http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Twelve_Types/William_Morris_and_His_School<br /><br />It's Chesterton on William Morris. He makes some very delightful points!Ephrem Antony Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00032465992619034619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-57097208248263151252010-04-20T12:08:51.743-05:002010-04-20T12:08:51.743-05:00Taylor> The Stern book sounds very interesting,...Taylor> The Stern book sounds very interesting, and he may well be on to something. I think he is undoubtedly right that these things are connected. I hesitate a bit, however, at a simple charge of rationalism. Though Stern's approach may take this into account, I see T's rationalism as a sort of alibi or defensive tool wielded by his proud, egocentric will. He uses rationalism to do away with anything that makes him uncomfortable, and then claims that it is precisely the excesses of reason that alienated the upper classes from the peasants & introduced all sort of artificialities & anxieties, as manifested in the disorderly & fearful ways of dying among his class. T is not consistent in his rationalism, but has recourse to it as it is convenient. I always come back to St Ambrose's judgement, 'He is very proud.' Fr Florovsky suggests something very similar in <i>Ways of Russian Theology</i>.Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-43363193541487282452010-04-20T11:49:47.914-05:002010-04-20T11:49:47.914-05:00Thank you for the fascinating post! There is a ve...Thank you for the fascinating post! There is a very penetrating account of Tolstoy's life and work, with special reference to his last days, in a book by a German Jewish convert to Catholicism, Karl Stern. The book is 'Flight from Woman'. He connects Tolstoy's difficult marriage (for which Stern considers Tolstoy's 'conversion' to blame), with his turn away from belleslettres to moralistic fables, and with his rejection of the church. Stern manages to do this in such a way that is not reductive, even though he was a Freudian psychoanalyst, but shows that, essentially, these three elements of Tolstoy's life were interconnected. At its root, Stern maintains, Tolstoy's mind was infected by a reductive, exclusively masculine rationalism which is endemic of Western culture and philosophy since Descartes. Such a sweeping generalisation about Western society may seem too unsubstantiated, but If you read the whole book, I think Stern does a good job of connecting philosophy and psychology in a convincing way. He sees the whole problem - the disease of Western culture - as one of an unbalanced masculinity within the two 'poles' of the human soul, characterized by masculine and feminine ways of knowing. <br /><br />Once you are able to finish the story of Tolstoy's death, Aaron, it would be interesting to see what light, if any, Stern is able to shed on the account.Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10409029017940484576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-23413174516462423902010-04-20T09:58:30.162-05:002010-04-20T09:58:30.162-05:00Yes, Elder Joseph, sorry, getting all mixed up.
I...Yes, Elder Joseph, sorry, getting all mixed up.<br /><br />I highly recommend the the <i>Elder Barsanuphius of Optina</i> volume, and not just because it is by far the biggest book in the series. When Fr. Seraphim speaks about reading more modern saints because they are closer to our time but can act as a bridge to the tradition that preceded them, I always think of this volume. Maybe it's because the Saint spent so much time in the world as a military man and only later joined the monastery, maybe it's because he lived at the end of the Tsarist age without being caught up in the Revolution and is thus the full flowering of 'Holy Russia' in its spiritual, cultural and intellectual arenas. Then again, maybe he simply had better compilers or translators.<br /><br />I also think it's just the coolest name. I just know that if I was ever tonsured a monk I'd end up being given this name. :) We're planning on at least one more child, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that the wife will consider a little Barsanuphius or Varsanuf (we'd have to go with the latter because my last name turns any first name into some odd-sounding dinosaur name; same with Fergus, Cyrus, etc.)123https://www.blogger.com/profile/14514075641944568806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-57569793526238443152010-04-20T09:48:26.954-05:002010-04-20T09:48:26.954-05:00Extollager> That's neat! I'm sure they ...Extollager> That's neat! I'm sure they could have spoken French, but I thought D did know English. All of my books on D (as opposed to his novels) are still in a box at my parents' house, or I'd check in Joseph Frank or something.<br /><br />Orr> It was Elder Joseph who was too sick to go--Elder Ambrose was long reposed by that time.<br /><br />I need that St Barsanuphius volume!Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-42683082428313541752010-04-20T09:23:16.316-05:002010-04-20T09:23:16.316-05:00I can't remember who the compiler of that sect...I can't remember who the compiler of that section of the book was, but it was St. Barsanuphius himself speaking about his experience going to the station where Tolstoy lay. I believe he was sent in place of the Elder Ambrose who was too sick to make the trip. It's towards the back of the book. I'll try to remember and find it this weekend (when I am reunited with my library).<br /><br />Felix Culpa had a little something tangential but pertinent about St. B and Tolstoy here:<br /><br />http://ishmaelite.blogspot.com/2008/03/poets-at-gates.html<br /><br />I have always found the St. Barsanuphius volume to be the best!<br /><br />The cell attendant question may be answered via the Life of St. Joseph of Optina (who is sort of my second angel as his feast is also that of St. Christopher, my patron, and my middle name is Joseph). However, I never really liked his Life as published, but I have always chalked that up to simply not liking the tone of much that came out of HTM.123https://www.blogger.com/profile/14514075641944568806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-91898398002496988292010-04-20T09:15:43.341-05:002010-04-20T09:15:43.341-05:00Thank you. I look forward to reading more about t...Thank you. I look forward to reading more about this.<br /><br />Incidentally, I was delighted to learn recently that Dostoevsky wrote a letter, 16 years after the fact, in which he told of a conversation he had, during a visit to London, with Charles Dickens. For me, it is wonderful to think of these two conversing -- though I wish I knew how they did so: perhaps both spoke in French? Or did Dostoevsky bring along an interpreter? I don't think he knew English...Extollagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00580955213307049077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-17462312319385643742010-04-20T08:47:11.075-05:002010-04-20T08:47:11.075-05:00Matthew> Yes, my student informed me about that...Matthew> Yes, my student informed me about that movie. I'd like to see it as well.<br /><br />I'm glad to hear you found (& read) Stanton. That book is just so original. It's one of my favourites, of course.<br /><br />I too thought the exchange with Leontiev was disappointing, but very interesting & revealing.<br /><br /><br />Orr> I assumed there probably was, but I unfortunately lack that volume. Who was the source for the story there? And did it shed any light on the 'cell attendant' question?Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-44967063796717459672010-04-20T08:37:07.044-05:002010-04-20T08:37:07.044-05:00There's also a section on this same event in t...There's also a section on this same event in the Platina text on St. Barsanuphius, too.123https://www.blogger.com/profile/14514075641944568806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-45798442812769865332010-04-20T07:49:27.045-05:002010-04-20T07:49:27.045-05:00Thanks for posting this. I was thinking about thi...Thanks for posting this. I was thinking about this subject, as well, because there is a new movie out about the Tolstoys called The Last Station, and I was wondering how they handled the Optina and Shamordino.<br /><br />I just read Stanton's book recently (one of the local University libraries had it). The part where he boasts to Leontiev about his 'Gospel' version was one of the most unattractive anecdotes I've heard about Tolstoy. And I thought it was interesting that Leontiev apparently asked him to start writing belletristic works again, as Turgenev pleaded with Tolstoy for the same thing.Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06922659552731758823noreply@blogger.com